DeMarcus Cousins convinced the Kings to do away with their Year of the Monkey t-shirt giveaway on the first day of Black History Month.

The Kings beat the Bucks on Monday, and Milwaukee announcer Marques Johnson explained how Cousins pulled him into the pre-game discussion he was having with Kings staffers on the topic.

“I walk into the building and DeMarcus Cousins calls me over to an animated discussion he’s having with Kings operations people,” Johnson, a former NBA All-Star, wrote in a Facebook post. “He ask me, ‘Olskool, what you think about this T Shirt?’ Told him a little insensitive on 1st day of Black History Month. They pulled the shirts…”

Thanks to Cousins elbowing his way into the planned promotion, the story today is about him rescuing the Kings from embarrassment, rather than the team actually being embarrassed, though they were humbled by the gaffe.

“We all need a lesson in sensitivity,” Kings president Chris Granger told the Sacramento Bee. “In an effort to celebrate Chinese New Year, we had some concerns about the T-shirt giveaway, so we pulled them all before the doors opened. Certainly we don’t want to offend anybody, and we acted as soon as we heard the concern.”

The team continued with the rest of its Lunar New Year celebration Monday night.